Fruitoplay Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Materials
• Game Overview
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• 3 Rounds of Play
  • How to Play?
  • How to Win a Trick?
  • How to Handle Ties?
• End of the Turn
• End of the Round
• Scoring
• New Round
• End of the Game
• Credits

Materials

• 80 Fruit cards numbered from 1 to 20 (20 for each fruit)
  • 60 Single Fruit cards: strawberry, banana, apple, and fig, 15 of each (front: Single Fruit; back: Double Fruit)
  • 4 Rotten Fruit cards
  • 16 Double Fruit cards, 4 of each fruit

Game Overview

Fruitoplay is a trick-taking game with simultaneous card selection.

It is played over 3 rounds. Each round is composed of 7 turns. Each turn corresponds to 1 trick. At each turn a Fruit card is put in play in the center of the table, the players choose and reveal simultaneously 1 Fruit card from their hand in order to win the trick. At the end of each round, each player calculates their score.

Goal of the Game

The goal is to accumulate the most points at the end of 3 rounds.

Setup

1. Shuffle the 80 Fruit cards and distribute:
   • 7 cards to each player for 2-3 players,
   • 6 cards to each player for 4-5-6 players.
2. Create a River of 7 cards in the center of the table. The 7 cards will be the stakes for the 7 turns of the round. In the following rule book, each of these 7 cards is called a Target card. The Target card that is fully visible at the end of the river will be the first to be played. Each Target card corresponds to 1 trick.
3. Form the deck, face down with the remaining cards.
4. Set aside the 4 Collective Fruit cards, which will be used in Rounds 2 and 3 (see New Round).

3 Rounds of Play

Each round consists of 7 turns.

How to Play?

Each turn of the game, the Target card at the end of the river is put into play (placed in the middle of the table).

All players simultaneously choose 1 Fruit card from their hand and place it face down in front of them. They do not necessarily have to choose a Fruit card of the same type of fruit as the Target card. When all players have chosen their Fruit card, they turn it face up at the same time.

How to Win a Trick?

a. If at least one Fruit card of the same type as the Target card has been played

The player who played the Fruit card of the same type of fruit and whose value is the closest (with the smallest difference) to the Target card wins the trick and collects all the cards played. They collect all the Fruit cards that have been played this turn as well as the Target card and place them in columns by type of fruit in front of them.

Example 1: Card 6 Banana is the Target card, card 2 Banana wins because: 1/ It is the same color as the target. 2/ It has the smallest difference with the Target card (difference = 4).

The player who won the trick places the fruits in columns: one type of fruit per column, leaving the markers visible.

b. If no Fruit card of the same type as the Target card has been played

The player who played the Fruit card with the closest value to the Target card wins the trick. They collect all the Fruit cards that have been played this turn as well as the Target card and place them in a column by type of fruit in front of them.

Example 2: 6 of bananas card is the Target card, 8 of apples card wins because it has the smallest difference with the Target card (difference = 2).

How to Handle Ties?

In case of a tie (same difference with the Target card), then these cards are no longer valid and we look at which of the other Fruit cards played wins the trick (see case a or b). The player who wins the trick takes all the cards, even the invalid ones, and places them in a column by type of fruit in front of him.

If there are no more valid fruit cards, then the trick is not won by anyone. The fruit cards are discarded from the round.

Example 3: 2 of bananas card and 10 of bananas card are not valid because they both have a difference of 4 from the Target card. 14 of bananas card wins. It has a difference of 8 but is the same type as the Target card.

End of the Turn

At the end of the turn, each player who did not win the trick must draw a card.

Continue playing until all 7 Target cards on the river are won.

In the last turn of each round only, the players who did not win the trick may draw (but do not have to).

With 4-5-6 players, if a player has won the first 6 Target cards, he won't take part in the final round, but he may draw a card.

End of the Round

Each player must add their remaining cards (from their hand) to the existing columns of fruit in front of them (or create new ones).

Scoring

1. Each player applies the effect of the Rotten Fruit card. If the player has a Rotten Fruit card, they must first cancel that card and one of the cards in the column (if any) where the rotten Fruit card or the Collective Fruit card is present (see New Round). The Rotten Fruit card is cancelled if it is on its own.

2. Each player counts the number of fruit in each column. Each card with 1 fruit has a value of 1 and each card with 2 fruit has a value of 2.

   The player then multiplies the value of the column with the most fruit by the value of the column with the fewest fruit. Columns with 0 fruit do not count.

   If they have only one column that is both the largest and the smallest, they multiply its value by itself.

   Column with the most fruit (Max) X Column with the fewest fruit (Min)

3. Write down the score achieved by each player, then start a new round.

Example 4: Luc multiplies 2 columns: his column with the most fruit by his column with the fewest fruit. Here he may choose to multiply the strawberry column (4) or the fig column (4) by the banana column (2). His score is 8 points. 4 strawberries (Maximum) X 2 bananas (Minimum) = 8 points.

Example 5: Romaric has to apply the effect of the Fruit Rotten Apple card. He may choose to remove 12 of apples card or 8 of apples card. He chooses to cancel the 12 of apples card, which has only one fruit. 4 strawberries (Maximum) X 2 apples (Minimum) = 8 points. The Apple Rotten Fruit card cancels the 12 of apples card.

New Round

Players take all the cards in front of them and shuffle them back into the deck. They then proceed to setup.

At the beginning of Round 2, once the cards have been dealt and the river formed, the player with the fewest points chooses 1 Collective Fruit card of value Single Fruit. This Fruit card placed next to the river will be valid for all players. Thus each player has a value of 1 in the fruit concerned.

This card can be cancelled for a player using the corresponding Rotten Fruit card.

At the beginning of Round 3, the player with the fewest points does the same, this time with a Collective Fruit card of value Double Fruit.

If there is a tie, the Collective Fruit card is drawn randomly.

End of the Game

The game ends after the 3rd round is scored. The player with the most points wins. In the event of a tie, the player who scored the most points in the last round is declared the winner. In the event of a tie, the players involved share the victory.

Example 6 (Scoring at the end of Round 3): The Collective Fruit +2 strawberries card had been chosen at the start of round 3 by Romaric. Luc cancels (just for him) the Collective Fruit +2 strawberries card with his Strawberry Rotten Fruit card, so he gets a column of 0 strawberries, which doesn't count. He multiplies his maximum column of 3 (figs or bananas) by his minimum column of 3 (figs or bananas). His score is 3 x 3 = 9. Romaric counts the Collective Fruit card +2 strawberries with the number of strawberries in front of him, so he gets a column of 9 strawberries. He only has one column, so he multiplies it by itself. His score is 9 x 9 = 81.

Credits

• Authors: Luc Rémond & Romaric Galonnier
• Artwork: Vidu
• Game Development: Dimitri Perrier, Anne-Catherine Perrier

Fruitoplay is a game of Explor8. All rights reserved. © Explor8 2023